Countdown on for Lollapalooza fest

Two days of alt-rock music in BA, featuring 50 bands performing on 4 different stages

With just one more day to go until Lollapalooza — the two-day international music festival that originated in Chicago, Illinois —, the lines to buy tickets were only getting longer. Lollapalooza has had its highs and lows since its conception, but, during the last nine years, the alt-rock music fest has moved to the musical forefront and become one of the most popular festivals in the United States and now in Latin America.

Tickets didn’t sell quite as quickly for Buenos Aires’ Lollapalooza as Chicago’s (three-day passes for Chicago’s 2014 festival sold out in less than two hours), but at over 100,000 tickets sold, the festival is sure to get busy.

Tomorrow’s Lollapalooza’s — the first one in Buenos Aires — will take place at Hipódromo San Isidro beginning at noon. While this will be Lolla’s first arrival in Buenos Aires, it is not its first trip to South America. The festival debuted in Santiago de Chile in 2011 and since then has tried to add a new city to the line-up each year, with Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2012, Tel Aviv, Israel in 2013 and Buenos Aires in 2014. Unfortunately, Tel Aviv’s 2013 festival was cancelled due to the political situation in Israel, according to Billboard.com.

Chile’s 2013 festival was called “an epic journey, emotional and satisfactory in ways” by Rock Axis, and if Chile is any indicator, Argentina’s festival should not disappoint. Lollapalooza Buenos Aires features about 50 bands which will be performing on four different stages throughout the day, begins at 12pm on Tuesday and goes until after midnight on both days. Though it is impossible to talk about the entire set list there are a few bands and artists that stand out.

Juana Molina, a local and world-renowned singer-songwriter will take the stage at 2pm, easing us into the afternoon, followed by Capital Cities, the US indie-pop duo behind top-40 hit Safe and Sound, at 3pm. Some additional highlights of the day include UK indie-rock artist and possible guitar prodigy Jake Bugg who has already been nominated for many of the major UK awards at only 20 years of age.

The Strokes frontman and solo artist Julian Casablancas will be a can’t-miss performance. Fingers-crossed, the show will include music from his upcoming album, which he announced in early March will be out later this year.

Dubstep artists Flux Pavillion (I Can’t Stop), house DJ Wolfgang Gartner and Las Vegas top-40 waveriders Imagine Dragons and the endlessly-cool New Zealand teen breakout Lorde will transition the festival into the night with late afternoon sets only leaving the question, “Whose set are you going to have to miss?”

Post-sunset big name, but not biggest-on-the-poster, artists like Phoenix, Kid Cudi, Nine Inch Nails and New Order need next-to-no introduction. And last but not least, Zedd and Arcade Fire will face off on opposite stages at around 10pm for the biggest shows of the night. While the Russian-German producer behind Stay the Night is a hot name at the moment (and is rumoured to be working with Ke$ha on a new song), Arcade Fire could’ve been called 2013’s unofficial band of the year. The release of the group’s latest album, Reflektor, had the world on the edge of their seats, and when it dropped, the album made it onto almost every best of the year list including Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and NME. They are not to be missed. And this is just the line-up for day one.

Day two features Argentine percussion group and hippie-magnet La Bomba de Tiempo, La Plata’s Él Mató a un Policía Motorizado and London-based indie darlings Savages, just to name a few. The Smiths’ guitarist and co-songwriter Johnny Marr, who will be releasing his second solo album later this year, is sure to be another highlight, along with English singer-songwriter and musician Ellie Goulding who, though best known for hits like Burn, Starry Eyed and Lights, has two full albums worth of music, and a number of covers, that are just as if not more beautifully catchy.

Between 5 and 6pm be sure to Harlem Shake with Baauer, but not for too long because Vampire Weekend goes on at 5.45pm. These indie-rockers with three albums under their belts are just getting started. We’re hoping to hear some older classics from the group like Oxford Comma as well as the hits from Modern Vampires of the City, which was named Rolling Stones’ number one album of the year last year.

Afterward most people will likely be moving as quickly as the can to get close to the main stage for The Pixies. Though the legendary rock group has aged a few decades and is missing bassist Kim Deal, they should be a sight to see. Fun fact: new touring bassist Paz Lenchantin grew up in Mar del Plata.

The semi-recently reunited Illya Kuryaki & The Valderramas will be making an appearance later in the night, making way for late night headliners Axwell and Red Hot Chili Pepper to end with some sweet Californication.

According to Farrell and Billboard.com, bundling Sao Paulo, Santiago and Buenos Aires’ festivals together is what allows Lolla to gather such a good line-up. In fact, Lollapalooza’s success in South America may be paving the way for future multi-day festivals to make the move to Latin America. There is only one day left to buy yours, but go in the morning, the lines are getting long.